Jeeeeeez.

I know I haven't posted in awhile, sorry!! Things have been a little hectic. School started last Monday, August 24 and I'd like to apologize ahead of time to anyone not in the educational field, because this post is probably going to be verrrrry boring for you. My school, Shanghai Singapore International School, has some serious benefits and some pretty incredible drawbacks too. First of all, it's a Singaporian school, so for primary school (grades prek - 6) it uses the Singaporian curriculum. This is what parents want, as most students are Singaporian, Korean, Chinese (Hong Kong and Taiwan - mainland Chinese aren't allowed by the gov't to go to international schools) and Malaysian. Apparently these parents like the rigid, structured Singaporian curriculum which relies on regular exams to track students' progress.

Once kids get to 7th grade, the school becomes an IB school (International Baccalaureate - with an IB diploma, western universities know you've gotten a decent education and will accept you). IB is broken into 2 levels - MYP (middle years program, grades 7-10) and DP (diploma program - grades 11 and 12). I'm teaching Secondary 1, 2, and 3, which is grades 7, 8, and 9. At first I completely freaked out - 3 preps is kind of crazy. But it turns out that I'm only teaching one section of each grade - only 3 classes! So, even though the preps are kind of intense I have tons of prep time by Western standards - Wednesdays are my easiest days, and I teach 2 classes, have 1 department meeting, and in theory have 4 periods free.

Before anyone gets too excited about hearing about what my daily life is actually like, here's some more admin BS for the educators: grading is different here. And when I say different, I mean DIFFERENT. And I'd like to throw out there that I just learned about most of this today, almost 2 weeks into the school year - more on communication issues later. In any case, when it comes to grading in MYP there's a rubric. Yayyyyyyy rubrics. Student are graded according to 3 criteria: Content, Organization, Style and Language Usage. Within each criterium, students earn a grade of 1-10. No problem, I thought when I found this out, I can work that into my grading scale. And then today I found out more - Students get a grade according to the 3 criteria FOR 2 MAJOR PROJECTS PER TERM. Otherwise, they do not receive a grade!!!! All that shows up on their report card is their 3 grades for each of the 2 major projects or essays. Hmmmmmm, you may be asking yourselves, as I certainly was this afternoon. Apparently the school itself DOES have another part to it - students earn a grade 1-3 (1 is the lowest) for homework completion, attitude, participation, and effort. Not too bad, eliminates the stress of western grading, I thought to myself, but then I come to find out that there are no guidelines for how these grades are reached. It would appear that in years past, many teachers assigned students a grade in these areas simply based on whether or not the teacher liked the students.

Grading aside, how does the school work? Well, this is going to come as a shock to many of you teachers - first of all, instead of the teachers each having their own room and the students rotating, it's the other way 'round. Students, grades kindergarden through 12 are with the same group of students all day in the same classroom, for the most part, and teachers rotate through. Awesome, huh? Now, for the sake of trying to stay positive, every classroom has a projector attached to the ceiling that can be attached to any laptop brought into the room. Yayyyyy! If only the classrooms had computers... but no. Luckily I happen to have a rather swanky laptop now, thanks to Josh, and a VGA adaptor with which to use said projector, also thanks to Josh. Thank you Josh!!!!! I haven't tried out my 3 classrooms yet, but in theory the projectors will work and save me a lot of effort as I have to carry absolutely everything I'll need for a given class period with me. Aaarrrrrgh. I miss my spacious ASMS classroom with students who come to me.

Moving along swiftly - since I'm teaching at a private school and parents pay upwards of 20,000 USD for their students to attend it, textbooks are included in the tuition. So, each student has a brand new book that he or she is permitted to write in, and they take VERY good care of their books because......... drumroll please........ THEIR PARENTS GIVE A SHIT!! Yayyyy! Parents are active participants in the school, sometimes excessively but still, at least they care. It's only been a week and a half of classes and I've already gotten emails from parents thanking me for my introductory letter and encouraging me to contact them if any home assistance is needed. SWEET! I've also been pre-warned that I need to continue to be proactive in contacting parents to keep them from jumping down my throat. Might seem like a lot, but I teach 3 classes of 20 or fewer students per class. Last year I had about 120 students, this year I have 60. Nice. At least it would be, if all of them speak fluent English.

SSIS levels the English class because there are so many Asian students who are still learning English. I have the higher levels of 7th grade and 8th grade, but the lowest level of 9th grade. I haven't seen them too much yet, but in the first class I had to totally shoot them down and explain, in no uncertain terms, who was boss. Based on their facial expressions, I don't think they were expecting that from a young white teacher. Sucks for them!!!! My 7th and 8th grade classes are cool though - 7th grade is really goofy and fun, 8th grade will be as soon as they learn how to loosen up. I gave all the students an Info sheet to fill out, so I could get their parents' contact info and to learn more about the students, and my one white student, Abby, an American, wrote on there that I shouldn't worry, the rest of the class would loosen up soon. Thanks, Abby! And yes, she is my only white student.

So, to wrap up a bit. The class sizes rock. The parent support rocks. The attitude of the administration rocks (haven't talked much about that, but trust me). For the most part the students' attitude and behavior rocks. Now, for what doesn't rock.

Supplies. Or, I guess I should say, what supplies? There aren't any. I wanted construction paper for an intro project with my 7th grade. The people in the supply closet looked at me like I had 3 heads. My friend Nicole, who teaches elementary, had the exact same response. No construction paper for elementary. Whaaaaat? No markers, crayons, colored pencils; I was given 5 pens, 2 notebooks, 3 pencils, 1 mini stapler, and 1 ream of printing paper per term. Ouch. Then I tried to photocopy. There are 4 photocopiers for Secondary School - 1 in the teacher's room (broken), 1 in HR (inaccessable), 1 in the president's office (inaccessable), and 1 in "Office Express" - the desk I have to go to in order to get any office supplies or, apparently, photocopies. For ANYTHING I want photocopied (and those of you who know my teaching style know that I photocopy a LOT), I have to fill out a form, fill out a log, and leave with the ladies who don't speak English and hope that they photocopy my materials the way I want them copied by the time I need them. BOOOOOO.

Lack of communication is a huge issue too. No matter where you're currently teaching in the American public school system, I guarantee ANY communication issues you have are nothing compared to here. AND THIS YEAR IS SUPPOSEDLY MILES BETTER THAN LAST YEAR!!!! For instance, I was told that I would be a form teacher. Cool. Sounds like fun. What the hell is a form teacher? Turns out it's like homeroom, but without actually seeing the students on a regular basis. I have to take attendance, contact parents for EVERYTHING, keep track of each kid, and so on, even if I never actually see that individual child. Iiiiiinteresting. My favorite was that I wasn't made aware of the responsibilities of the form teacher until after the first week of school. Or, another current favorite, yesterday most of the new teachers had to go downtown to deal with visa stuff. I was informed last period the day before so I scrambled to get my sub plans done (more explanation of why I had to scramble in a few) and the next morning, as I'm supposed to be getting on a bus to deal with visa stuff, I STILL CAN'T FIGURE OUT WHO'S COVERING MY FIRST PERIOD CLASS!!!! Because, to save money, the school doesn't hire subs. Other teachers just cover classes for sick teachers. Awesome. And, whoever is in charge of teacher coverage, FORGOT A BLOODY PERIOD!!!!!! The MYP coordinator, an administrator, ended up having 60 middle school students in 1 tiny classroom (1/2 to 2/3 the size of an ASMS classroom) because coverage hadn't been organized. Back to why I had to scramble to get my sub plans done - because of traffic problems in Shanghai due to trying to get everything done for the World Expo in May (which apparently only China has heard about - to them it's the Olympics all over again but the rest of the world couldn't care less) there's construction everywhere. And even before that was an issue, the traffic is so bad in Shanghai that it's almost impossible to navigate. We take a bus to school every day, because there's no other way to get there and back, and as a result everyone, teachers and students, have to arrive and leave at the same time. I get to school, hopefully, by 8.30 (first period). Last period ends at 3.10 and busses leave, with or without teachers, by 3.15. There is NO "after school" for ANYONE.

I know there's been a lot of complaining in this post, and for that I'm sorry - I don't want anyone to get the wrong idea; I'm having a GREAT time living in Shanghai. The school itself leaves something to be desired in many respects, but at the same time many things are better than what I've been working with recently. That being said, at this point, I don't think I'll renew my contract with this particular school after my 2 years are finished. But we'll see - you never know.

1 more piece of good news - my co-workers friggin' rock!!!!! Literally, in some cases. One member of the English department has a band that plays downtown weekly (and he met Blitzen Trapper!!!), one English teacher was new last year and as a result has taken me under her wing to ensure that my first year isn't as bad as hers was, and the English dept. head is new this year too - Wayne has taught at many international schools around the world as well as US public schools in MA and CT, so he's putting tons of effort into encouraging the administration to run more effectively and efficiently (yayyyy for yankee ingenuity). So, as much as the school needs to grow, I'm having a lot of fun and am learning to be much more flexible about everything. And I'm planing WAYYYYYY in advance. Damn photocopying.

Things are going really well so far. I've made very good friends with Nicole and her husband Chipper from California. Nicole is teaching 3rd grade ESL and her husband is just here for the ride - he's a photographer so he's going to do some work when he's here. They're amazing - we totally connected when we first met and they're fantastic. They live 3 floors below me so it's really easy.

Not too many funny stories yet, but frustrating ones! Just little stupid things are difficult to do sometimes because of the language, like when I tried to get a Tesco membership card (I thought the place was like BJ's or Sam's Club) and no one spoke English, I don't speak Mandarin, and all the forms were written in Chinese characters. Oh! I've got one. We were in Carrefour, which is kind of like Walmart, to get stuff we needed for our apartments (Nicole, Chipper and I) and Nicole wanted to get toilet paper but we couldn't find it, they didn't speak English and we didn't know how to say it in Mandarin (I had left my dictionary at home) so Nicole, crazy one that she is, starts miming wiping her ass with more enthusiasm than I've ever seen to try to convey what it was she wanted, and everyone just busted up. It was hysterical!!

School starts August 24 but we went in yesterday for a tour and to meet the headmaster. The place is HUGE and the headmaster is totally cool, though he did allude to the fact that the school might not be as pulled together as it appears. We'll see, most schools aren't so I'm not too worried. But he highly encouraged open communication between teachers and administrators, and that we should feel comfortable voicing concerns or making suggestions. We also had the most thorough physical I've ever had yesterday. I felt like a lab rat! Blood tests, chest x-rays, ecg, eye exam, ultrasound, it was ridiculous! The ECG left fun suction cup marks on my chest - that was a good time.

Today we're back at the school for administrative stuff like setting up bank accounts, getting login info, schedules, that kind of thing. Hopefully we'll get to meet with department heads too. The English department head is new, he's American and recently lived in Northampton, MA, which is where Josh went to school! Small world. He seems like a good guy. Then we have Thursday off, and they're giving us a tour of Shanghai on Friday. Monday is when all the teachers come back and we do curriculum planning and setting up classrooms and such. Since I'm teaching 7th and 8th grade I won't have my own classroom - I'll have to float around. Not too psyched about that, but hopefully I can talk to the other people using my rooms and we can work out a storage agreement or something.

Well, time for a shower and then heading off to school. I'm in the process of posting pictures to Picasa, so when it's ready I'll let you all know. I'll also see about posting pictures on here - that might be the easiest route.

Welcome to China!

Most of you have probably already seen this, but I didn't have some of your email addresses at the time. I sent this out when I first arrived, so if you've already read it, move on to the next!

Hi everyone! I wanted to let you know that I arrived safe and sound yesterday. My flight went fine and I was even able to sleep a bit! There was a very nice woman named Seven (Chinese people get to choose their own English names - just go with it) from my school to meet me and a few others who just arrived - a very nice couple from Malaysia who were generous enough to help me with my bags, and a Canadian guy, his wife (Korean) and adorable daughter who had spent the past 3 years in Suzhou, which is just north of Shanghai.

Okay, first off, the traffic here is unbelievable!! So far I haven't seen any of the crazy '8 cars to 4 lanes' business, but people switch lanes constantly, pull random u-turns, pedestrians and mopeds weave in and out of traffic ignoring the cars - it's ridiculous. And drivers seems to signal that they're going to do anything from turn, to making a u-turn, to cutting off a pedestrian by honking. I was walking down a pretty small street last night to get some water, and mopeds just honk for the hell of it. Bizarre.

The airport was on the other side of the city, in Pudong district (the city is divided up into a bunch of districts - like neighborhoods, but huge. Think South End, Back Bay, etc. but gianormasized). The bus from the area where I live and my school is (MinHang district) took for bloody ever - I think close to 2 hours because of all of the traffic and construction.

Speaking of construction. Holy god. EVERYTHING is under construction. I've never seen so much rebar in my life! We passed the 2010 World Expo site in Pudong. It looks like it's going to be pretty cool, should anyone feel like coming sometime in 2010 to check out the World Expo! It was kind of surreal driving through the city though - there was an incredibly swanky shopping center, nicer than the ritzy part of Newbury street in Boston, right next to an enormous pile of rubble, which I can only imagine will soon be more swanky shopping. I passed the giant IKEA - I need to figure out how to get there! There are mopeds everywhere here. I'd swear I was in Italy, but no one was riding around saying 'ciao'.

We finally got to my apartment at about 7pm (plane arrived at 3:15). It's a gated apartment complex with security guards at the 2 entrances. I have to swipe a fun card thingy to get in the gates. Once inside, it's actually very nice. There are many buildings ranging from about 6-15 floors, and pretty courtyards and trees in between. My studio apartment is quite tiny, but the bathroom's decent sized, everything is clean and new, and the main area is already divided by a bookshelf thing into 2 sections - bedroom and living room area. I was worried about storage space, but there are tons of little cabinets and closets - it even came with Hello Kitty slippers to wear around the place! Of course they're the right size for a 6 year old, but I'm gonna make it work. :-) Seven, the girl who picked me up from the airport, was the one to get my apartment set up, and she had already gotten me pillows, sheets, and a blanket which was very sweet - I didn't want to have to find that immediately on my own. There's a nice little balcony that looks over, well, buildings and smog, but if you look directly down there's trees! And tons of flashy lights at night.

Josh's friend Jess Lee (ironically enough from Spartanburg, SC and don't worry, Emily, she can't stand the Converse girls. She's not one of them!) from the program he did in Beijing just moved to Shanghai a few weeks ago. She's doing a combined Chinese language/MBA program here. She and her friend who's visiting came over after I arrived last night to help me get situated. We didn't do too much, but she helped me to get a cellphone and as soon as I figure out what the number is, I'll let you guys know. The easiest way for you to get ahold of me will be via internet (email) and using Skype. I'm not getting a land line, and most phone cards don't allow you to call an international cell phone.

My apartment is apparently in a relatively wealthy part of Shanghai. A lot of international schools are nearby and though I haven't really seen any other westerners around here, they probably exist somewhere. I do know that another American teacher at my school and her husband are going to be in the same apartment complex as me, as is the Malaysian couple I mentioned earlier. I don't know if she's arrived yet, but another teacher is going to be in the studio right next to mine.

I can already tell the language issue is going to be huge. Luckily Jess was with me to buy my cell phone, because a lot of people in this area don't speak English. So far they're nice to me because I'm a stupid foreigner (I've heard "laowai" more times than I can count - it means foreigner, and it always seems to be directed to me), but I really need to study the Chinese I've learned and develop my vocabulary!

Just down the street from my apartment is a big square area that kind of reminds me of Cambridge but with more neon lights. This area is MUCH quieter than the city center and isn't quite so intimidating. Right down the street there's a Bank of China which doesn't appear to be charging me ATM fees but I'm not sure (my school will set up a bank account for me in the next few days), there's KFC, McDonalds (I'm not gonna lie - my first meal in China was McDonalds. They speak English there!!), Starbucks (free internet), and a bunch of stores who's signs I can't read. There's also a Tesco, which is apparently like BJ's. You need a membership card but they have tons of international things. From what I hear, that's the place to go for cake mixes. Now if only I had an oven....

I'm going to spend this morning unpacking and then brave the subway system (Jess and Josh said it's pretty easy) to go to Jess's and we're going to hang out for the afternoon and go to a karaoke bar. Not a huge fan myself, but apparently it's an entirely different ballgame here - Josh says it's painfully hysterical. I'll take pictures!

Hope everything is going well with everyone, and keep in touch!!